It has been a good start to the week. As I said the other day, I am back at work and I have managed to get back into the groove rather easily. I have also been able to ramp up my training as I had planned....and a bonus is that I have actually seen an increase in my overall speed too! Yes, it is true, I have actually seen a tangible increase in my bike speed since May and I am psyched.
Let me recap the past few days:
Monday
I went to an easy 4.3 mile run at lunch with my friend Bill. It is always a good run with Bill, actually it is always an entertaining run with him. We didn't break any land speed records, but we did go at an easy 8:25 pace and had a good time.
After work, my wife and I headed over to the pool. Me to swim some laps, he to read her new book. I did a very tough 1,250 yards....I was just so friggin' tired for the whole work out. I started out with my first 100 (of a 500 yard warm-up) in 1:38 (very fast for me) and then my times came back to earth (1:46, 1:46, 1:53, 1:48). I then decided to do 10 x 50 yards and I just couldn't get my body going right. I think it was due to all of the diving board activity I engaged in on Saturday and Sunday with my oldest daughter. I guess I just don't realize how much energy it takes to dive, swim and walk over and over again during a three to four hour time span. Anyway, I averaged around 49 seconds for each 50 and then wrapped it up with a very lazy 250 yard cool down. Total time for the swim was 21:51.
Tuesday
I drove into work with my bike packed in my trunk and was prepared for a good ride home. I haven't done this ride in a few weeks and I was looking to make the best of it. I cut out of work around 3:30pm and started to ride south. For the first time in a long while I felt really good on my bike. Let me correct that, I felt great. I stayed in the big ring for probably the first 15 or so miles, cruising on the flats, bombing the downhills and powering up the climbs. I just felt so strong. I managed to do the first ten miles in right around a half an hour. I continued on and was just flying, feeling great. Then around mile 20 I got my first flat on my new bike and I was thankful to have a tire lever, a spare tube and CO2 cartridge. It took me about 10 minutes to change the tire, basically I was taking my time making sure that inspected my tire before putting the tube in. I did mess up a bit by wasting a bit of my CO2 when I didn't have it connected to the valve fully (damn!).
The last eight miles of the ride is a bit of a bear it is about 80% uphill away from the Delaware River. I was able to maintain good power going up the hills and I rolled into my driveway in 1:38:00 and covered 30.5 miles (18.6 MPH). That is a ten minute improvement over the first time I did this ride this year, back in May. I was pretty psyched!
Once home, I ran inside, got changed into my running clothes, grabbed Willie (our dog) and went out for a quick run in hopes of finding my dear wife who was doing a 2 - 3 mile walk. It was after about 1.25 miles that I found her not more than 100 yards from our house. For that 1.25 miles though, I averaged under 8:00/pace, I think it was actually 7:53/mile. Thank God I had finally run a sub-8 min. mile. Damn!
Today
I dragged my tired ass out of bed at 5:05am to get ready for my ride into work. I ate some strawberry Pop-Tarts, drank a quick glass of OJ and I was out the door around 5:30am. My legs were feeling it a bit for the first three or four miles. All in all the ride was uneventful and I felt like I was really going slow for the first ten miles or so. Around mile 20 I was feeling better and decided that I was going to try and pick up the pace. I ended up doing the 30.5 miles in 1:36:00 (19.1 MPH), probably the fastest I have ever ridden that route. Again, I was pretty surprised, especially when I think about how badly I started my ride. I definitely think I can do it un around 1:30.
That is about it for now. I must get some work done and prepare for the first night of soccer practice. I am the head coach of my daughters Under 7 Girls soccer team and tonight is the first practice. It should be fun....me and eight 6 - 7 year old girls...give me strength!
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